Somebody should just set up a Premiere 4 on here, and give people a day or two of Sling and VPN access to it for a small fee, and then it can just go from account to account activating TiVo Mini's. I wonder how long until TiVo notices the thing has switched accounts a zillion times and hundreds of different TiVos have "been" at that one "location".

How do you figure? Why would someone pay you $270 when they could get brand new for $250?

Click to expand...

methinks he was being a bit sarcastic

I do have to say it's a bit fitting that he said that today because I replied to a person selling a used XBox360 slim 4GB on Craigslist for $225 and I asked him why he's selling it for $26 MORE than I can buy a new one at my local Target which is factory sealed new in box. His answer was "I got two so selling one..it is in good condition" to which I replied "but I can buy new factory sealed in box for $26 LESS!" and he replied back "OK" WTF?!?!?!

At any rate, it's safe to say that a used Mini could be easily resold to recover a good portion of the cost, even a long time from now (if this loophole were closed by Tivo someday in the future), making the risk of trying this pretty small. The question is...who will try it first?

I do have to say it's a bit fitting that he said that today because I replied to a person selling a used XBox360 slim 4GB on Craigslist for $225 and I asked him why he's selling it for $26 MORE than I can buy a new one at my local Target which is factory sealed new in box. His answer was "I got two so selling one..it is in good condition" to which I replied "but I can buy new factory sealed in box for $26 LESS!" and he replied back "OK" WTF?!?!?!

So, a question for the people who take advantage of this loophole, set up the Mini, and then return return the 4 tuner TiVo: What happens when down the road the Mini stops working? Are you going to buy another 4 tuner TiVo to get the Mini working again, and then return the 4 tuner TiVo, again?

So, a question for the people who take advantage of this loophole, set up the Mini, and then return return the 4 tuner TiVo: What happens when down the road the Mini stops working? Are you going to buy another 4 tuner TiVo to get the Mini working again, and then return the 4 tuner TiVo, again?

Click to expand...

If you have two Lifetime TPs you can sell them on E-Bay, purchase a TP-4 and a Mini + a 2Tb drive, purchase cost with some sales tax under $1100, I just sold my 2 TPs today on E-Bay for $1090 for both, my net after shipping was about $990, my cash outlay is now about $100 or so + I can sell my two "N" TiVo adapters for a net of $80 for both, so the cost is very little. I know this is not for everybody but if you are going to go into this odd ball way of getting a Mini to work, you should be able to do what I just did so you know the job is done correctly.

If you have two Lifetime TPs you can sell them on E-Bay, purchase a TP-4 and a Mini + a 2Tb drive, purchase cost with some sales tax under $1100, I just sold my 2 TPs today on E-Bay for $1090 for both, my net after shipping was about $990, my cash outlay is now about $100 or so + I can sell my two "N" TiVo adapters for a net of $80 for both, so the cost is very little. I know this is not for everybody but if you are going to go into this odd ball way of getting a Mini to work, you should be able to do what I just did so you know the job is done correctly.

You don't know that unless you've tried it or a Tivo official has stated that this is the case. That's the entire point of this thread.

I may give this a try in the next month or two.

Click to expand...

The only way to know for sure is to set it up for the long term. But I would be shocked if it could be set up that way indefinitely. I figure at some point it would need to recheck to see if the P4 is still on the account.

The only way to know for sure is to set it up for the long term. But I would be shocked if it could be set up that way indefinitely. I figure at some point it would need to recheck to see if the P4 is still on the account.

Click to expand...

How long is long term? 30 days? 60?

I actually think it is more likely to be set up that way. From a programming perspective, what checks would Tivo build in and what purpose would those serve *after* the initial set up? It seems like a waste of initial and ongoing resources to keep checking without a specific purpose.

I actually think it is more likely to be set up that way. From a programming perspective, what checks would Tivo build in and what purpose would those serve *after* the initial set up? It seems like a waste of initial and ongoing resources to keep checking without a specific purpose.

Click to expand...

We don't know what the system is that the Mini uses, I could not get my Mini to mate to my new TiVo Q4 (before I put a cable card in the unit), the TiVo CSR told me to try and pull the cable card out of another Q4 and see if the Mini would mate, and it would still mate to that Q4 so I did not think is was the cable card, so much for that assumption, as I put a cable card into the new Q4 (from one of my TPs) and after a call home it mated great !!. So if your OTA you can't get the Mini to mate to any Q4 as you don't have any cable cards.